Apps to help you

Apps are not for use instead of professional support but as an addition. They can help you effectively manage your own general wellbeing and mental health. Different people find different techniques and methods helpful so if you find one doesn’t work for you, don’t give up on them all. Finding resources, techniques and strategies that work for you is a trial and error process but once you’ve found the ones that you know help, you can add them to your self-care toolkit.

This following list has been collated by OLLIE as an overview and guide to some of the apps available that can support your wellbeing. Please be sure to check the suitability of each app and if there are any cost implications or compatibility issues. Whilst most of the apps listed below are free to download, please be aware of potential in-app purchases.

General Wellbeing

Breathe2RelaxThe relaxation app trains you on the ‘belly breathing’ technique that has proven benefits for your overall mental health.Available on iOS and Android

Happify The Happify app is a way to make a game of all the positive psychology tricks you know might work, but make you feel kind of silly when you actually do them.Available on iOS and Android

MomentMoment tracks how much time you spend on your phone each day.Available on iOS

Stress Check by AzumioThis app takes you on a deep breathing exercise to promote calmness and can bring your heart rate down in five minutes. The app provides instant feedback with breath and pulse monitoring and tracks long-term progress.Available on Android

StepfinderStepFinder pinpoints your nearest local support service and shows you how to get there using your phone. It shows you tips and recommendations from other young people, so you know what to expect when you use a service for the first time.Available on iOS

ANXIETY

Anxious Minds Anxious Minds is a charity set up by sufferers of anxiety and depression to provide free support to other sufferers.Available on Android

BASE BASE is an app designed by Solent NHS Trust‘s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Brookvale Youth Mental Health Service to help manage stress and anxiety.Available on Android

I love HueWhen you feel like you have no control, this app can help soothe you by creating simple visual harmonies from mosaic tiles.Available on iOS and Android

MindShiftAn app designed to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety. Rather than trying to avoid anxiety, you can make an important shift and face it.Available on iOS and Android

Smiling MindEncourages the regular practice of mindfulness meditations.Available on iOS and Android

Thrive: Feel Stress FreeTips to help you relieve stress/anxiety – including meditation, deep relaxation, self-hypnosis, and more.Available on iOS and Android

Wysa Happiness Chabot Wysa helps to build emotional resilience by talking to you about your situation. Over 60 psychologists and 10,000 users have provided specific inputs to shape how Wysa helps them.Available on iOS and Android

Worry WatchThis journaling tool has a simple user interface where users can log instances of worry, fear, and anxiety. They can also add the outcome of each situation, which provides a comparison between expectation and reality that helps reduce anxiety over time.Available on iOS

Depression

Cove Free, personal music journal to help you with your emotional and mental health. Trusted by the NHS.Available on iOS

Happy not perfectBacked by science, designed for you, Happy Not Perfect is your go-to place for everything you need to look after your mind in a fun new way.Available on iOS and Android

ReflectlyReflectly is a personal journal and diary driven by artificial intelligence to enable you to deal with negative thoughts, make positivity louder and to teach you about the science of well-being.Available on iOS and Android

WELLMIND WellMind is a free NHS mental health and wellbeing app designed to help with stress, anxiety and depression. The app includes advice, tips and tools to improve your mental health and boost your wellbeing.Available on iOS and Android

WRAPWRAP was developed by a group of people who have a lived experience of mental health difficulties. Using a WRAP involves listing your personal resources (Wellness Tools) and then using these resources to develop Action Plans.Available on iOS and Android

Self-Harm

BlueIceBlueIce is a prescribed evidence-based app to help young people manage their emotions and to reduce urges to self-harm.Available on iOS and Android

CALM HARM Calm Harm provides tasks that help you resist or manage the urge to self-harm.Available on iOS and Android

Suicide

MY3 With MY3, you define your network and your plan to stay safe. With MY3 you can be prepared to help yourself and reach out to others when you are having thoughts of suicide.Available on iOS and Android

Stay Alive App A free, national suicide prevention pocket resource, packed full of useful information to help you stay safe. It offers help and support both to people with thoughts of suicide and to those concerned about someone.Available on iOS and Android

Eating Disorders

Diet Or DisorderThe app provides tools to support and empower those who might have an eating disorder and well as their loved ones.Available on iOS and Android

Body Image

Good Blocks A free app designed to improve your mood, self-esteem and body image. It helps you train your mind to reject negative thoughts in a fun and creative way.Available on iOS and Android

Grief

GriefThe app has been created by a group of bereaved young people working directly with Child Bereavement UK. It has been developed for 11 to 25-year-olds who have been bereaved of someone important to them. It can also be used by friends, teachers, parents and professionals who would like to know how to support bereaved young people.Available on iOS and Android

Smiles and TearsAn interactive tool to record memories, send gifts and write thoughts, feelings and emotions. Also includes tips on how to manage emotions such as anger, confusion, guilt, loneliness, etc.Available on iOS and Android

Addiction

Drink Aware A free app from Drinkaware to help you track and set goals to help you moderate your drinking. It also pinpoints locations where you need extra help and lets you set goals tailored to your existing drinking habits.Available on iOS and Android

AA Big Book Developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and includes personal stories, recovery podcasts and a sobriety calculator to manage how far you’ve come if you’re drinking too much.Available on iOS and Android

Quit That! Free app that lets you easily track all of the things you want to quit.Available on iOS

Gender

Christella VoiceUp Christella’s app analyses your voice by gender and then coaches you to voice up. Each stage contains five separate lessons which cover the fundamental aspects of voice and speech feminisation.Available on iOS and Android

Trans Memo Many trans people forget the date they should take their hormones and are thus late in taking them. Trans Memo enables trans people (FtM, FtX, MtF, MtX, NB…) to never miss hormone day!Available on iOS and Android

Gender Neutral Toilet Finder Helps people locate gender neutral toilets, rate them for their accessibility and other features. You can add locations of where you spot them and add pictures.Available on iOS and Android

Dating & Relationships

Bright SkyFree to download mobile app providing support and information for anyone who may be in an abusive relationship or those concerned about someone they know. It features a unique UK-wide directory of specialist domestic abuse support services, so you can contact your nearest service by phone from the app.Available on iOS and Android

Mend(free for first 7 days) A break-up self-care app with daily audio bites, mending exercises, progress tracking and personal stories to help you get over heartbreak.Available on iOS

Youper Based on therapy and meditation, it can be used to help people with shyness and social anxiety gain more confidence in social situations.Available on iOS and Android

Zipit If someone is sexually harassing you or asking you to send them naked selfies, the free Zipit app by Childline lets you respond with smart GIF put down. The app also contains tips on how to be safe during intimate chats and you can call Childline from within the app too.Available on iOS and Android

Sleep

Pillow Automatic Sleep TrackerPillow can analyse your sleep cycles automatically using your Apple Watch, or you can use Pillow without an Apple Watch by placing your iPhone or iPad on the mattress near your pillow.Available on iOS

Relax Melodies Combines over 100 relaxation sounds, melodies, binaural beats and white noise, allowing you to create your very own relaxing soundscapes.Available on iOS and Android